State to streamline B.Ed colleges

Amaravati: AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has set ground for direct fight with National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) (a wing of NCERT) on according permissions to private B.Ed and B.P.Ed colleges in the State.

Highlights:

• APSCHE directs varsities not to allow admissions in around 400 colleges even if NCTE gives permission
• Says colleges conducting admissions without maintaining sufficient staff and infrastructure

The APSCHE has directed all universities in the State not to give permission to around 400 B.Ed colleges and some B.P.Ed colleges for conducting admissions as the colleges have not been maintaining staff pattern and other infrastructure standards even as the colleges have got authorisation of NCTE. The APSCHE has also given serious warning to deans of universities for their silence on allowing huge corruption and irregularities in running of B.Ed colleges.

According to senior officials in Higher Education department, NCTE accorded permission to 521 B.Ed colleges in the state. The APSCHE is complaining that the permissions are not in compliance with the demand and the NCTE gives permissions based on documentary evidence and universities also give approvals without any physical verification.

“B.Ed colleges managed to get permission without any check by spending Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Managements of colleges are attracting students from Odisha, Bihar and some other states and collecting huge money from them for awarding certificates without conducting classes. The colleges are also drawing scholarships in the name of bogus students,” a senior officer of APSCHE said.

The colleges mostly depend on other states’ students as demand for B.Ed education declined after the course duration was extended to two years 2014-15 education year. Around 60,000 students used to compete before 2014, but the number declined to mere 5,000 students this year. “Where is the need for NCTE to give permissions for more number of colleges in AP even as 100 colleges are sufficient as per demand” asked the official.

A senior officer said colleges should appoint 16 faculty members for two units (100 students) as per norms. But, around 80 per cent of colleges being run with mere 3 to 4 faculty members. The APSCHE also observed some of the faculty members did not even take the DSC examination.

Several irregularities came out when the APSCHE directed colleges in June to upload their staff particulars along with Aadhaar numbers to its website. Even the closing date was extended two times till August 15, 451 B.Ed colleges of total 521 uploaded their particulars. “We observed that just 20 percent of colleges maintained sufficient qualified staff. Some colleges claimed faculty of other colleges as their staff. We sent the particulars to the universities and sought their explanation,” a senior officials of Higher Education department said.

“Universities’ authorities are ignoring warnings of Ministry of Higher Education and APSCHE over corruption and severe irregularities taking place in B.Ed colleges. They allow the colleges claiming they were given permission from NCTE. We will not allow such irregularities and to conduct admissions even as the NCTE gave permission to those colleges.

We will write NCTE over the issue and have already asked universities to take certain action on such colleges,” said S Varadarajan, secretary of APSCHE. APSCHE Vice-Chairman Pemmasani Narasimha Rao told The Hans India that the situation in private B.Ed colleges was shocking and it could definitely affect the education system in the state.

By K Varaprasada Rao